OCLC and ProQuest work together to automate e-book collection management

DUBLIN, Ohio, 4 November 2013—A new collaboration between OCLC and ProQuest automates the process to keep e-book holdings from ebrary and EBL – Ebook Library up to date in WorldCat and library catalogs and offers current links to library users for easy access to those titles. The initiative builds on OCLC’s work with ProQuest’s e-book businesses to support Demand-driven Acquisition (DDA) workflow and e-book access.

Libraries can now request that ebrary and EBL provide OCLC with holdings data for purchased collections and DDA repositories. The data will be loaded into the WorldCat knowledge base, which combines information about a library’s electronic resources with linking features that enable access to the content. E-book holdings and access will be automatically kept up to date for OCLC cataloging libraries, without the need for library staff to manually intervene.

“OCLC is working with partners like ProQuest to automate as many steps as possible in the supply chain to help reduce the burden on librarians to keep e-resource information current,” said Chip Nilges, OCLC Vice President, Business Development. “This automated process is designed to remove the difficult and time-consuming task of cataloging and maintaining holdings information to keep records of e-book collections and links up to date. This work at the supply chain level will result in fast, easy and reliable access to these e-collections for library users.”

“This relationship with OCLC hits the high points of ProQuest’s goals for our combined e-book business: seamless access and supported workflow,” said Kathy Masnik, ProQuest Vice President of Product Management, Ebooks. Masnik is leading ProQuest’s integration of ebrary and EBL, which will build a joint e-book platform, streamlining libraries’ current systems and processes for added value. “We’re delighted to partner in the debut of an important step forward in streamlining the work surrounding e-books.”

About ProQuest

ProQuest connects people with vetted, reliable information. Key to serious research, the company’s products are a gateway to the world’s knowledge including dissertations, governmental and cultural archives, news, historical collections and e-books. ProQuest technologies serve users across the critical points in research, helping them discover, access, share, create and manage information.

The company’s cloud-based technologies offer flexible solutions for librarians, students and researchers through the ProQuest®, Bowker®, Dialog®, ebrary®, EBL® and Serials Solutions® businesses – and notable research tools such as the Summon® discovery service, RefWorks Flow™, Pivot™ and Intota®, a new library services platform.

In cooperation with customers and partners, ProQuest’s ebook businesses ebrary and EBL-Ebook Library are currently being integrated to create an unparalleled ebook solution that offers the most robust content selection, paired with the most flexible acquisition models to provide libraries choice in what best suites their current workflow and so they can optimize their budget, while effectively serving end users.

ProQuest is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with offices around the world.

About OCLC

Founded in 1967, OCLC is a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing library costs. More than 74,000 libraries in 170 countries have used OCLC services to locate, acquire, catalog, lend, preserve and manage library materials. Researchers, students, faculty, scholars, professional librarians and other information seekers use OCLC services to obtain bibliographic, abstract and full-text information when and where they need it. OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the world’s largest online database for discovery of library resources. Search WorldCat.org on the Web. For more information, visit the OCLC website.

OCLC, WorldCat and WorldCat.org are trademarks and/or service marks of OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. Third-party product, service and business names are trademarks and/or service marks of their respective owners.